By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
SmartData Collective
  • Analytics
    AnalyticsShow More
    data analytics in sports industry
    Here’s How Data Analytics In Sports Is Changing The Game
    6 Min Read
    data analytics on nursing career
    Advances in Data Analytics Are Rapidly Transforming Nursing
    8 Min Read
    data analytics reveals the benefits of MBA
    Data Analytics Technology Proves Benefits of an MBA
    9 Min Read
    data-driven image seo
    Data Analytics Helps Marketers Substantially Boost Image SEO
    8 Min Read
    construction analytics
    5 Benefits of Analytics to Manage Commercial Construction
    5 Min Read
  • Big Data
  • BI
  • Exclusive
  • IT
  • Marketing
  • Software
Search
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Foreign languages and data streams
Share
Notification Show More
Latest News
big data mac performance
Data-Driven Tips to Optimize the Speed of Macs
News
3 Ways AI Has Helped Marketers and Creative Professionals Streamline Workflows
3 Ways AI Has Helped Marketers and Creative Professionals Streamline Workflows
Artificial Intelligence
data analytics in sports industry
Here’s How Data Analytics In Sports Is Changing The Game
Big Data
data analytics on nursing career
Advances in Data Analytics Are Rapidly Transforming Nursing
Analytics
data analytics reveals the benefits of MBA
Data Analytics Technology Proves Benefits of an MBA
Analytics
Aa
SmartData Collective
Aa
Search
  • About
  • Help
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
SmartData Collective > Big Data > Data Quality > Foreign languages and data streams
Data QualityData VisualizationPredictive Analytics

Foreign languages and data streams

StephenBaker1
Last updated: 2010/06/30 at 7:41 AM
StephenBaker1
4 Min Read
SHARE

When you listen to foreign language you know, it’s like you’re hard of hearing. I was thinking about that yesterday. I was sitting here in my livingroom, a video camera pointed at me, and an iPhone taped to a pillow off camera to my right. I was participating in a Spanish-language show called Oppenheimer Presenta, discussing Numerati themes with others from Mexico, Colombia and Argentina. The sound quality was iffy, at best. While I kept my eyes glued to the camera, I struggled to follow it.

When you listen to foreign language you know, it’s like you’re hard of hearing. I was thinking about that yesterday. I was sitting here in my livingroom, a video camera pointed at me, and an iPhone taped to a pillow off camera to my right. I was participating in a Spanish-language show called Oppenheimer Presenta, discussing Numerati themes with others from Mexico, Colombia and Argentina. The sound quality was iffy, at best. While I kept my eyes glued to the camera, I struggled to follow it.

If it had been American English, I would have had no trouble at all. The reason, I’ve learned, is that we carry templates in our head. Potential sentences are dancing around there just waiting to be activated. We need only a sparse stream of data to fill them out. (That’s why I can easily listen to a baseball game through a blizzard of static, while a lecture about the political situation in East Timor through the same connection would be lost to me.)

I’m thinking a lot about these language issues as I write the book about Watson, IBM’s Jeopardy-playing computer. For Watson, language is foreign. It needs lots of surrounding words in a sentence to provide context for each one.

More Read

data visualization for small business

Data Visualization Boosts Business Scalability with Sales Mapping

Use this Strategic Approach to Maximize Your Data’s Value
Niche Data Tactics to Take Your Business to the Next Level
5 Best Practices for Extracting, Analyzing, and Visualizing Data
Albanian Bitcoin Investors Tap the Power of Predictive Analytics

We also need additional data when listening to foreigners speaking English. I remember a Spanish woman telling me once that Americans pretended they didn’t understand her when she spoke English. I asked for an example. Once she was in an airplane, she said, and politely asked the stewardess for a glass of milk. All she got was a blank stare. I asked how she asked for that milk, and she said, with two of the shortest syllables imaginable: …’Meelk please’…. I told her that two syllables weren’t much to go on. If she had said, …’I would like a glass of cold milk, please’… it would have been a cinch, no matter how she pronounced …’milk’….

Back to Watson… (which is the way my brain is working these days) Sometimes in Jeopardy, the clues have too many words for Watson, which can lead to confusion. Take this clue, from a 2005 show. Under the category …’Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage’… it reads:

To get to the Hermitage from Nashville, you take a road called this, same as Jackson’s nickname

The computer may be tempted to start scouring its geographic data to look for highways around Nashville. My hunt on Google maps shows that the road from Nashville is Lebanon Pike, and that the answer to the clue, Old Hickory (Blvd), lies beyond Jackson’s Hermitage. Long story short: Lots of confusion for the computer. But if the clue had simply asked for Jackson’s nickname, a piece of cake.

Old Hickory’s Hermitage

StephenBaker1 June 30, 2010
Share this Article
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn
Share

Follow us on Facebook

Latest News

big data mac performance
Data-Driven Tips to Optimize the Speed of Macs
News
3 Ways AI Has Helped Marketers and Creative Professionals Streamline Workflows
3 Ways AI Has Helped Marketers and Creative Professionals Streamline Workflows
Artificial Intelligence
data analytics in sports industry
Here’s How Data Analytics In Sports Is Changing The Game
Big Data
data analytics on nursing career
Advances in Data Analytics Are Rapidly Transforming Nursing
Analytics

Stay Connected

1.2k Followers Like
33.7k Followers Follow
222 Followers Pin

You Might also Like

data visualization for small business
Data Visualization

Data Visualization Boosts Business Scalability with Sales Mapping

7 Min Read
analyzing big data for its quality and value
Big Data

Use this Strategic Approach to Maximize Your Data’s Value

6 Min Read
niche data tactics for business success
Big Data

Niche Data Tactics to Take Your Business to the Next Level

6 Min Read
big data visualization
Data Visualization

5 Best Practices for Extracting, Analyzing, and Visualizing Data

6 Min Read

SmartData Collective is one of the largest & trusted community covering technical content about Big Data, BI, Cloud, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, IoT & more.

ai is improving the safety of cars
From Bolts to Bots: How AI Is Fortifying the Automotive Industry
Artificial Intelligence
giveaway chatbots
How To Get An Award Winning Giveaway Bot
Big Data Chatbots Exclusive

Quick Link

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Follow US

© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.

Removed from reading list

Undo
Go to mobile version
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?